


Happily Ever After?

by WatchTheAntagonist



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Nott the Best Wing Woman, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 00:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18325385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchTheAntagonist/pseuds/WatchTheAntagonist
Summary: The Mighty Nein discuss the odds of getting a ‘happily ever after’ ending, and Jester comes to a realization about her relationship with Fjord.





	Happily Ever After?

**Author's Note:**

> Day Three of Fjorester Week: Fairy Tale

“And then they got married and they are going to live happily ever after forever and ever, isn’t that just the greatest, Beau?” Jester flopped down on the bed on one side of their shared room at the inn as she finished regaling her roommate with the story of the romance novel she just finished. Beau stepped into the room behind her, not bothering to close the door. The Mighty Nein had rented out the only three rooms at the small tavern in the town they were passing through on the way back from the Menagerie Coast, and the rest of the team would probably be dropping in soon to discuss plans for the next day of travel. Barring any unexpected delays, they should be arriving in Nott’s hometown in a few days. Jester sighed. “I want to have a romance just like that. What about you?”

               “I dunno, Jes,” Beau said, sitting down on the bed across the room and beginning to unwrap her arms. “I never really bought into the fairy tale ending. Just doesn’t seem like it could ever happen in real life.”

               “Beau!” Jester rolled over onto her stomach so she could stare at her friend. “Of course you can have a happy ending!” Beau frowned slightly and looked about to respond when a familiar dirty brown coat passed by their open door.

               “Hey, Caleb!” Beau called out and the man stopped.

               “It is seven thirty-three, Beauregard, there is no need to yell,” Caleb said.

               “No, well, thanks, but not what I was going to ask you,” Beau said. Caleb frowned slightly and entered the room, Nott following close at his heels. “What do you think about fairy tale happy endings? Real or nah?”

               “I don’t know,” Caleb said after a beat of thought. “I would like to think so. For the people who work for them.”

               “There, see, Caleb says I’m right,” Jester smirked. “And he’s, like, super smart so that means I’m _totally_ right.”

               “I’m not sure if you are,” Nott said. Jester frowned. It was unusual for the goblin to disagree with anything Caleb said. “I mean, Caleb is super smart and usually right about everything, it’s just possible that he’s not quite as right about this one particular thing.”

               “Yeah, we all know Caleb’s a genius,” Beau rolled her eyes as Caleb blushed bright red under everyone’s attention. “Just tell us what you think.”

               “What are you all talking about?” Fjord said, entering the room followed by Yasha and Caduceus. As always, Jester’s heart began to beat faster at Fjord’s striking resemblance to the hero in her novel.

               “Nott was just explaining why she thinks that it’s impossible for someone to get married and be happy,” Jester egged her on.

               “I didn’t say that at all,” Nott protested, waving her hands in front of her. “I just don’t think that getting married means you automatically get a happy ending. Even if you get married to someone you are really _really_ in love with, there will still be hard times, and disagreements, and bad things that happen to you that you never would have predicted.”

               “Okey, so that’s two votes for happy endings and two against,” Jester said, pointing at those who had already had their say.

               “You voted for happy endings, Caleb? I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Fjord said. The wizard shrugged and ran his fingers through Frumpkin’s fur.

               “I just said that I like to think they are possible,” Caleb said, glancing around for a distraction. “What do you think, Mr. Clay?”

               “Well, I mean, we all get happy endings, right?” Caduceus said, frowning after a long pause. “We all die, then return to the Wildmother and the earth. That’s nice.”

               “And then we become tea!” Jester said, laughing slightly as Fjord looked a little uncomfortable.

               “Not exactly what we meant by happy endings, Deuce,” Beau said, stifling a laugh of her own.

               “How else could things end?” Caduceus asked, his brow furrowing.

               “Still counts as a vote for my side!” Jester said, her grin getting wider. “What do you think, Yasha?”

               “I agree with Nott,” Yasha said. The goblin and the rest of the group gave her a surprised look and waited for an explanation for a few beats of silence.

               “Okay, so, that’s three for and three against. We’re tied again,” Jester said, giving Yasha a way out if she didn’t want to explain further. She examined the group and tried not to stare to hard at Fjord, the only one who had yet to cast his vote.

               “What do you think, Fjord? Do you foresee the possibility of a happy ending in your future?” Beau asked.

               “Maybe with a special someone?” Nott said, wiggling her eyebrows at Jester, who blushed and smacked her lightly before turning to look at Fjord. Luckily for her, he seemed too deep in contemplation to have caught onto Nott’s teasing.

               “I don’t know,” Fjord said after a long moment of thought as Jester waited with baited breath. “Even before all the stuff with Uk’otoa and Vandren, I was never really a fan of those romance books you guys like so much. They just didn’t seem real.”

               “Are you sure that was the reason and not just you being embarrassed by the smutty stuff?” Beau teased and Fjord rolled his eyes as the room erupted into giggles and Jester tried not to feel too disappointed. After all, Fjord not believing in happily ever after endings didn’t really mean anything. It wasn’t like it mattered what sort of a future he saw, or if he saw her in it.

               “Lately, though, I’ve been thinking that it doesn’t matter as much as I thought it did,” Fjord said contemplatively. It took the rest of the Nein a moment to quiet down as they realized he wasn’t done with his answer. “I mean, I love travelling with all of you. I don’t know how all this stuff with Uk’otoa and everything with that is going to turn out, but until we get there I want to enjoy my time here with you all.”

               “So, do what makes you happy in the present, huh?” Beau said. “I can get behind that.” Caduceus and Nott both nodded slightly, though Caleb just continued petting Frumpkin.

               “Molly would have approved,” Yasha said quietly. A slight hush went over the room.

               “Yeah, I like to think he would have,” Fjord said. “Even if we can’t get to a happy ending, we can be happy now.”

               “I’ll drink to that. Anyone else want to get something downstairs?” Beau said, seeming relieved to think of an out to what had turned into an unexpectedly emotionally charged conversation.

               “I have to grab something from my room. I’ll meet you down there,” Fjord said. The rest of the Nein began the journey to the main floor of the tavern while Fjord took off. Once they reached the stairs, Jester hung back, pointedly ignoring Nott’s awkward thumbs up as she shuffled the remainder of the group on to the tavern.

               Jester liked the idea of living in the present. She thought she usually did a pretty good job of it. Certainly, she had been told enough times that she should focus less on the immediate enjoyment of her pranks and more on their future consequences. Was it still possible that, when it came to Fjord, she had been focused too much on a future that might never happen? She had certainly been imagining a life with a Fjord that she had created in her mind, someone more like the heroes in her books. The one that she could be guaranteed a happy ending with. But the Fjord who was in front of her, the one who made mistakes, jumped in without looking, got tempted by power, but always, always, tried to do his best. . .how could she have ever even dreamed of neglecting him? She didn’t need a fairy tale ending, not when what was real was so, so much better than anything those authors could have dreamed up.

               “Jester,” he said with a smile, a smile just for her, as he rounded the corner. Her heart beat faster and she fidgeted with her skirts. “I thought you were going downstairs with everyone?”

               “Oh, well, you know. . .” Jester began. She could feel her cheeks burning. “You were talking about doing what makes you happy and everything.”

               Jester took a step forward, then another, then a third, until she was right next to Fjord. He started to say something, but before he could she kissed him on the cheek softly. She turned and skipped down the stairs to rejoin the Nein, but not before she saw Fjord blush deeply, a shy smile spreading across his face.


End file.
